Burning Inscription 2: Confusing Words
by Higuchimon
Summary: Atsushi knows who Kinshiro's soulmate is: he is. But is it mutual? Is it the two of them? His own words don't give nearly as much of a clue as he'd like.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Author:** Higuchimon  
 **Fandom:** Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!  
 **Series Title:** Burning Inscription|| **Story Title;** Confusing Words  
 **Romance:** Kinshiro x Atsushi/Atsushi x Kinshiro  
 **Word Count:** 1,000|| **Status:** One-shot  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Writing Challenge, B56, write a fic with no dividers; Advent 2015, day #22, write an AU; KinAtsu Week Day #3, AU  
 **Notes:** This takes place in the same universe as my earlier fic **Unwanted Words**. That means this is a soulmate AU where the words written on one's left wrist are the _most important_ words that one's soulmate will say, for whatever reason. On Kinshiro's arm is Atsushi's declaration of being Battle Love Epinard, from episode 11. On Atsushi's? Read and find out.  
 **Summary:** Atsushi knows who Kinshiro's soulmate is: he is. But is it mutual? Is it the two of them? His own words don't give nearly as much of a clue as he'd like.

* * *

 _Kinshiro is my soulmate. Or I'm his._

For most people that would've been a moment of pure bliss, to know that the childhood friend they'd cared about for so long truly was the one who loved them as well.

For Kinugawa Atsushi, he honestly had no idea of how to feel about it.

He stared at the bracelet on his arm. It hadn't occurred to him until a few days after meeting Wombat and becoming a Battle Lover that these were the words that Kinshiro had on _his_ arm. Somehow, someday, he would tell Kinshiro that he was Battle Lover Epinard. Why, he couldn't even begin to imagine.

He ran his fingers over his own words, words written in a rich shade of sparkling gold, bright as the sun.

 _I'm sorry, At-chan._

Was it Kinshiro for him? Sometimes people didn't have matching bonds. One-sided soulmates made for some of the most tragic books or movies in all the world.

There weren't many people who called him At-chan. Kinshiro was one of them. Of the others, either they didn't have a mark that he knew of, or their mark wasn't anything that he'd could imagine himself saying, let alone being the most important words that would ever be said between them.

So who else could it be?

Even so, he wasn't going to walk up to Kinshiro and declare his identity. For one thing, their enemies were still out there somewhere, and Atsushi didn't dare take that kind of a risk. He wasn't going to put Kinshiro in any danger, and finding out that he was one of those who'd started to defend the school against the monsters cropping up _would_ put him in danger.

All of his fretting spun round and round in his head, going nowhere except places he'd already been a dozen times.

 _What if it's not Kinshiro?_ His thought-train pulled into that station more than once. While there were few other people he could think of it being… well…

It wasn't impossible it could be En. The words on En's arm hadn't been spoken yet, but that didn't rule them out as being a possibility in the future.

"I'm sorry, At-chan!" How many times had En said that after the whole business with the kotatsu monster? Atsushi couldn't recall anymore, no more than he remembered how many times he'd said the same thing.

It could be. There were definitely worse fates that being bonded to En. But always he thought next, _what about Kinshiro? What about his words?_

A one-sided bond would make everything… everything so much worse.

What would make everything better would be finding out why Kinshiro got mad at him way back then in the _first_ place. Atsushi wanted to know; if it had been something he did, then he really wanted to find a way to fix things. But Kinshiro wouldn't talk to him about it; wouldn't talk to him about anything, and it just kept going and going, and Atsushi had no idea of what to do about any of it anymore.

Only those words on Kinshiro's arm, engraved in his mind since as far back as he could remember, offered anything like hope for him. If only his weren't so _generic_ , if there had just been something to pin them down as either Kinshiro's or En's or someone else altogether.

There just wasn't any way to know who your soulmate was in cases like this, though. There weren't any flashes or glows or anything to make a more definite identification. Just the words and the hope that you found the right person who said them.

 _Kin-chan..._ Atsushi kept that hope going though. If it wasn't him, if it was En, it wouldn't be the end of the world. He liked En. He wasn't sure if he _loved_ him, but he liked him all the same. He thought En liked him; everything with the kotatsu monster pointed in that direction.

But until he said those words to Kinshiro, until he knew one way or the other, until there wasn't this doubt and this hope and this worry hanging over their heads, over _his_ head, then he wasn't going to make any more advances than he already had with En. It wouldn't be right for either of them.

 _What if that monster had hit Kin-chan? Would he have hated me even more?_

Atsushi wasn't sure if that could even happen. The cold looks Kinshiro sent his way at times? Even worse, the times when he didn't look at Atsushi at all? The whole confusing way this began? He just didn't know and he didn't think he wanted to find out, not like that, not with a monster involved.

For that matter, what if it had struck him and he'd forgotten what it was like to care about Kin-chan, even with all the years in between them? That sent another shudder of an even worse kind through him. He didn't want to fight Kinshiro. He didn't want to hate him at all. He very much wished Kinshiro would stop hating him!

There were just too many questions about all of this and he didn't have any idea of where he should get answers, or if he could. Talking to Kinshiro had always been En's idea, but Atsushi couldn't bring himself to do it. Not then and not now, with the wounds of years stretching between them.

Before he could get himself completely wound up for what would probably have been the millionth time in his life over those words and Kinshiro and En and all the rest of it, his Loveraclet tingled. Caerula Adamas must've targeted someone else out there.

And like every time, the Battle Lovers would answer the call.

And Atsushi tried to shake the oddest feeling that hung over him, more so than any others combined, that Chevalier Aurite looked at him more than his teammates…

He really didn't want to think about _that_ possibility. It was enough dealing with Kinshiro.

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


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